Artists
Biography
Serena-Maneesh is a name you may already know.
Serena-Maneesh is not a girl. Serena-Maneesh is a straight-up Norwegian rock band, and they have created a ton of buzz all over the world with amazing sold-out shows and lots of online chatter, all on the the power of a hard-to-find import record. It’s a record with eleven songs that slide down a razor’s edge of distortion and pop whimsy, raucous guitar work and underwater static, angelic voices and primal screams.
Inspired by everything from Southern blues via Neu! to Gershwin, Serena-Maneesh is as much about exploring sound as crafting song. Working in both horizontal and vertical layers, lead musician Emil Nikolaisen creates tuneful paradoxes, infinite yet time-bound. His meticulous compositions balance whispery female vocals and underlying violin with driving guitar rock, distorted samples, and chant-like repetition. Tracks such as “Sapphire Eyes” begin and end in liquid noise; in between guitars shriek and shatter, angels sing, and a snare beats along in cinque-pace time.
Serena-Maneesh appeared at Norway’s prestigious Oya Festival in August of 2005, which was swiftly followed by an invite to tour Europe with big fans The Dandy Warhols. Then, the band played sold-out shows during their quick visit to the US this past winter, and upon their return were nominated for Norway’s version of a Grammy award – a Spellemannsprisen’! Now, they have signed a worldwide record deal with Playlouderecordings, which is newly a division of the Beggars Group. The world is their oyster.
Their self-titled debut was completed in various cities – including Chicago (Steve Albini’s Electrical Audio Studio), Oslo, Brooklyn and Stockholm, and was recorded on analog and digital and mixed by, among others, Martin Bisi (Swans, Sonic Youth). Then there are the many weird and wonderful contributors, collectively making Serena-Maneesh nothing short of a dynasty, with front-man Emil Nikolaisen employing the help of his friends, including Sufjan Stevens on flute and marimba, his sisters Elvira and Hilma (vocals and bass) as well as solid Serena-Maneesh musicians, Lina Holstrom (vocals), Eivind Schou (violin), Sondre Tristan Midttun (guitar) and Tommy Akerholdt (drums) among many others.
And the result? The sound is like nothing you have ever heard, for Serena-Maneesh don’t simply create sound, they explore it. Loud, intoxicating rock rushes merge with bewitching atmospherics. It’s a musical paradox that allows Serena-Maneesh’s powerful, hypnotic noise to transcend music and inhabit a beautifully rare and compelling otherworldliness.
"Norway's Serena-Maneesh make strangely beautiful and lushly noisy pop using guitars that are alternately washed out or shrieking, distorted samples, and breathy female vocals singing lyrics in broken english." - Village Voice
"Serena-Maneesh really does sound a bit like a new rock manifesto, something Marx would have written had he gone into psychedelics instead of politics. The emotions are fiery, the logic is muddy and each musical statement made by the five-piece group... is grandiose." - Under the Radar
Serena-Maneesh is not a girl. Serena-Maneesh is a straight-up Norwegian rock band, and they have created a ton of buzz all over the world with amazing sold-out shows and lots of online chatter, all on the the power of a hard-to-find import record. It’s a record with eleven songs that slide down a razor’s edge of distortion and pop whimsy, raucous guitar work and underwater static, angelic voices and primal screams.
Inspired by everything from Southern blues via Neu! to Gershwin, Serena-Maneesh is as much about exploring sound as crafting song. Working in both horizontal and vertical layers, lead musician Emil Nikolaisen creates tuneful paradoxes, infinite yet time-bound. His meticulous compositions balance whispery female vocals and underlying violin with driving guitar rock, distorted samples, and chant-like repetition. Tracks such as “Sapphire Eyes” begin and end in liquid noise; in between guitars shriek and shatter, angels sing, and a snare beats along in cinque-pace time.
Serena-Maneesh appeared at Norway’s prestigious Oya Festival in August of 2005, which was swiftly followed by an invite to tour Europe with big fans The Dandy Warhols. Then, the band played sold-out shows during their quick visit to the US this past winter, and upon their return were nominated for Norway’s version of a Grammy award – a Spellemannsprisen’! Now, they have signed a worldwide record deal with Playlouderecordings, which is newly a division of the Beggars Group. The world is their oyster.
Their self-titled debut was completed in various cities – including Chicago (Steve Albini’s Electrical Audio Studio), Oslo, Brooklyn and Stockholm, and was recorded on analog and digital and mixed by, among others, Martin Bisi (Swans, Sonic Youth). Then there are the many weird and wonderful contributors, collectively making Serena-Maneesh nothing short of a dynasty, with front-man Emil Nikolaisen employing the help of his friends, including Sufjan Stevens on flute and marimba, his sisters Elvira and Hilma (vocals and bass) as well as solid Serena-Maneesh musicians, Lina Holstrom (vocals), Eivind Schou (violin), Sondre Tristan Midttun (guitar) and Tommy Akerholdt (drums) among many others.
And the result? The sound is like nothing you have ever heard, for Serena-Maneesh don’t simply create sound, they explore it. Loud, intoxicating rock rushes merge with bewitching atmospherics. It’s a musical paradox that allows Serena-Maneesh’s powerful, hypnotic noise to transcend music and inhabit a beautifully rare and compelling otherworldliness.
"Norway's Serena-Maneesh make strangely beautiful and lushly noisy pop using guitars that are alternately washed out or shrieking, distorted samples, and breathy female vocals singing lyrics in broken english." - Village Voice
"Serena-Maneesh really does sound a bit like a new rock manifesto, something Marx would have written had he gone into psychedelics instead of politics. The emotions are fiery, the logic is muddy and each musical statement made by the five-piece group... is grandiose." - Under the Radar